Age of Discovery

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History of geography
Graeco-Roman Chinese Islamic Age of Discovery History of cartography Historical geography Environmental determinism Regional geography Quantitative revolution Critical geography
v t e

The Age of Discovery (c. 1418 – c. 1620),^[1] also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which seafarers from European countries explored, colonized, and conquered regions across the globe. The Age of Discovery was a transformative period when previously isolated parts of the world became connected to form the world-system, and laid the groundwork for globalization. The extensive overseas exploration, particularly the opening of maritime routes to the East Indies and European colonization of the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese, later joined by the English, French and Dutch, spurred international global trade. The interconnected global economy of the 21st century has its origins in the expansion of trade networks during this era.

The exploration created colonial empires and marked an increased adoption of colonialism as a government policy in several European states. As such, it is sometimes synonymous with the first wave of European colonization. This colonization reshaped power dynamics causing geopolitical shifts in Europe and creating new centers of power beyond Europe. Having set human history on the global common course, the legacy of the Age still shapes the world today.

European oceanic exploration started with the maritime expeditions of Portugal to the Canary Islands in 1336,^[2][3] and with the Portuguese discoveries of the Atlantic archipelagos of Madeira and Azores, the coast of West Africa in 1434, and the establishment of the sea route to India in 1498 by Vasco da Gama, which initiated the Portuguese maritime and trade presence in Kerala and the Indian Ocean.^[4][5] Spain sponsored and financed the transatlantic voyages of Christopher Columbus, which from 1492 to 1504 marked the start of colonization in the Americas, and the expedition of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to open a route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, which later achieved the first circumnavigation of the globe between 1519-22. These Spanish expeditions significantly impacted European perceptions of the world. These discoveries led to numerous naval expeditions across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and land expeditions in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia that continued into the 19th century, followed by Polar exploration in the 20th century.

European exploration initiated the Columbian exchange between the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) and New World (Americas). This exchange involved the transfer of plants, animals, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and culture across the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. The Age of Discovery and European exploration involved mapping the world, shaping a new worldview and facilitating contact with distant civilizations. The continents drawn by European mapmakers developed from abstract "blobs" into the outlines more recognizable to us.^[6] Simultaneously, the spread of new diseases, especially affecting American Indians, led to rapid declines in some populations. The era saw widespread enslavement, exploitation and military conquest of indigenous peoples, concurrent with the growing economic influence and spread of Western culture, science and technology leading to a faster-than-exponential population growth world-wide.